August 1, 2014

4 Minute Mile, and Noah's party

The past couple of days have been so boring that I really don't have much to write. I haven't been running, because I want to make sure my knee is 100% back to normal before I try running again. Yesterday, I could still really feel it, but today it seems a lot better, so I'm hoping by Monday it will be good enough to go for a run.

I've been trying to rest it as much as possible, and consequently, I haven't gotten much activity at all since Tuesday. On Wednesday and Thursday, I only had about 3,500 steps each day, and today, I'll only have about 6,000. I'm actually really itching to go for a run!

Jerry didn't have to get up early for work today, so last night, we watched a movie called "4 Minute Mile", which was available OnDemand. I hadn't heard of it until I saw a tweet about it by Runner's World. It's a movie about a kid who runs track, and he's super fast. He had a troubled childhood, and his brother is into the drug scene, which he tries to avoid. He starts training to run a sub-4:00 mile under a pretty tough coach, and running becomes his "outlet". It's a really good movie, and made me want to go for a run!

It really reminded me of the movie "8 Mile" with Eminem, right down to the fact that Kim Basinger plays the mom; only instead of rap, the main character uses running as his outlet. I think it's supposed to be available in select theaters starting today, but usually the closest theater to me that plays "select" movies like this is Chicago, a five-hour drive. So Jerry and I watched it OnDemand, and we both really liked it.

This morning, we got everything ready for Noah's surprise birthday party. I found a bunch of water balloons in a cupboard, so we thought the kids would have fun throwing them at each other. Jerry spent a good amount of time filling up two big tubs full of water balloons. A couple of hours later, we noticed that they had ALL popped in the tubs! They were old balloons, and I'm guessing being in the sun didn't help.

Water balloon fail

I didn't want to make a cake, because I usually screw up cakes somehow (even from a mix), so I figured cupcakes would be safer. I made red velvet cupcakes, and Eli added sprinkles.

Once everything was ready, Jerry stayed at home with Eli to wait for the kids to show up, and I went to the church to meet Noah, who was riding home from camp in the church van. Once he showed up, and I got the go-ahead from Jerry, we headed home. Noah said he really missed us and the cats while he was gone, and I didn't want to tell him about Paolo until after his party.

When we got home, he walked in the door ahead of me, and his friends were all hiding behind the couch. They jumped out and yelled "Surprise!". Noah had no clue they were here, but his reaction wasn't quite as exciting as I'd been picturing. I think he just wasn't sure what to make of everything. Once he settled in the house, though, our house became as loud and rambunctious as you'd expect a house full of 10-year old boys to be ;)

All 10 candles on his cupcake

The party turned out successful, and Noah was happy. It's nice having him home--that was the longest we've ever gone without being in contact.
I didn't realize until this morning that it's August 1st already, and that means a new monthly goal. For July, my goal was to give up ice cream for the month. I did pretty well--I made an exception on National Ice Cream Day, because, well, it was National Ice Cream Day! I can't really say that giving it up for a month killed my cravings for it completely, but I definitely don't think about it constantly like I did all of June. I actually passed up on the ice cream at Noah's party today, because I was full from dinner. That never happens!

I had a hard time coming up with a good goal for August. We're leaving for Punta Cana on the 24th, so I'm only going to keep my goal in effect until then, but for this month, my goal is going to be to eat all of my meals at the dining table. I tend to eat breakfast and lunch in the living room, and I'd like to get out of that habit. I can still eat snacks elsewhere, but all of my meals will be at the dining table.

I don't know why I didn't think to recommend this to you before, but since you love to read, you should check out Running for My Life. It's one of the very best books I've ever read!! I don't mean to come off as spammy, but I wrote a review here if you'd like to check it out... http://roseatwater.com/best-book-ive-ever-read-running-life-lopez-lomong/

When I saw the title of this post pop up on feedly, I thought that you ran a 4-minute mile and I was like WOAH! I am not a runner but that sounds really really hard!! :) My goal for August is to walk .

I'd love to hear from you! I read all of my comments, and if you have a question, I do my best to respond; sometimes, however, I get busy and forget to go back to reply, so if it's important, just email me! :) (I had to turn on comment moderation due to a ton of spam comments; but I will approve your comment asap!)

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